Subject:Ankles
Entries
Entry 7214
Dat whut chew call tyin' down. Dey'll wait until de man come in an' go tuh sleep, an' dey git a bran'-new ball of cot- ton yarn an' puts it on de inside of de baid, where de man gotta sleep. Why dey measure from de tip of 'is haid tuh de sole of 'is feet. Tie a knot tuh de neck, an' tie a knot tuh de waist, an' tie a knot tuh de knees, an' tie a knot tuh de ankles, an' tie one tuh de sole of yuh feet [5 knots]. An' den dey take dat an' dey care [carry] it undah de baid tuh de side dat he sleeps on an' tie it, yo' know, undah de springs wit de two ends tuhgethah double. Tie it right undah where [demonstrates]. Dis part of de body.
(Near the backside?)
Yes. Dat keeps 'im down, dat keep 'em from runnin' aroun'. [Charleston, S. Car., (514), 599:5.] [For more material by Doctor Glover, see Pp.2258-2259; No.112, P.41; No.272, P.79; and No.335, p.99.]
Entry 1518
Take ten cents [dime] and put three holes in it and they say that'll keep anybody from hurting you. You tie around your neck or either around your ankle. You gen'ally tie it around your left ankle.
Entry 13052
If you are wearing a dime on your ankle to protect yourself and it turns dark, you have been tricked. [Deal Island 24:4.]
Entry 555
(What did you say your name was?)
William Scott.
(William Scott. All right. No. 535.)
[On my first trip down the Eastern Coat from Virginia into Florida, I occasionally still asked a person his name and casually gave him a number. Both practices I have previously stopped, recording only a name volunteered and the number before entrance or after departure.] Well, dis woman dat I was goin' wit, see - me and her quit and she had wanted to come back to me, and ah wouldn't take her back because ah ketched her doin' wrong. She try to do me harm. She git another man to set some stuff on me to - some stuff for me to step in. She know ah was de first one to cross over it in de mawning to go to work. Ah come on out and go on to work and it started about eleven-thirty that I felt my back giving and mah laigs they cracked - ah couldn't hardly walk with it and ah asked to git off. At dinnertime, at noon, ah git off and come on home. By de time ah kin git home mah laigs and toes was all swollen up. So I went to a doctor - he's jest here on Commings Street, root doctor.
(What was his name?)
Williams - he named Williams, too. [Informant's first name William - doctor's last name Williams - hence the too!] He lived here right now. He stayed dere on Commings Street and now he moved. So I went to him and explained mysel' dat Satiday. So he said, "Well, ah tell yuh what chew do - you come back here Sunday mawning round five 'clock or six 'clock [or] Sunday noon," he said, "so I kin see what I kin [do] wit cha." [This is an act of magic - the magic delay.] So ah went down dere. So he tells fortunes in coffee. So he went round dere and he tells me to sit down and he git de coffee and he tell me, he say, "Well, boy, ah kin cure you" - it would take seven dollars. Ah say, "Yes sir." He say, "Now, whut ah want chew to do - ah'm goin' give you dis dime." He say, "You take dis dime ah give to you and you take dis dime and you cut it up real fine." He said, "An' you git chew a piece of red flannel and you take dis red flannel and rub dis dime round and round in dis red flannel." He said, "An' git a little bit of sulphur an' put wit dis silver whut you cut off de dime and work it round in dere good, and after you rub it round dere good, you take some assafitadee [asafetida] and put wit it and sew it up in a bag and put it round yore neck." [This is a hand or mojo or toby - see Index.] He said, "An' you drop back to me Monday and ah'll let chew know whut I kin do for you." [Again, the magic delay.] So dat Monday ah went back to him and when I went back to him, he said, "Well, you come on into de house." I went back to de house wit 'em. He said, "Now to- night at twelve o'clock," he said, "you come here to me," he said, "an' ah'll fix you up good to [at] the Morris Brown Cemetery.
(Morris Brown Cemetery.) [Negro cemetery.]
So ah went out dere wit 'em dat night an' he said, "Now ah want chew to do dis." He said, "Ah want chew to walk wit me to dis grave," he said, "and ah want chew to pick up a handful of dis sand," he said, "an' you walk backwards six feet [steps] and t'row it over you and wheel to yo' right."
(Throw it over - how do you throw it?)
T'row it ovah yore left shoulder an' wheel to yer right. An' I done that. I walk six feet and wheeled to mah right, wheeled to mah right. And he said, "Well, come on back home now." Ah went on back wit him - ketched a [street] car and went on back to his house. And after I went back to his house, he said, "Now, what chew Want me to do - do you want me to dress dis woman or fix dis woman?" Ah said, "No." He say, "Well, all you want's me to do is unloose you?" I say, "Yes sir." He says, "All right. Now, look whut I'm gon'a do. I want cha in de morning to git up early," he said, "you git up early and go right to the step, and take you a big spoon - cooking spoon and dig down underneat' dat step," he say, "an' you see all yo' troubles right to the step." So dat morning I git up and I dig down at de foot of de step and when I git dere [it] was a little package rolled up jest like a little - about de size of a egg - in de package looked like it Was gunpowdah and some other - ah don't [know] whut to tell yuh - some other stuff in dere real fine like little grounds and dust and things like that. An' I dig it up and after digging this up - he say, "You bring it on to me" - and I dig it up and I bring it on to him. He said, "Now, this was the beginning of you' trouble." An' so after dat, mah feet begin to goin' down - de swelling stuff begin to leave mah feet. Den he say, "Well, ah'll boil some root medicine now, to get that thing out chure system." An' which like he did. He went and boiled dis medicine and ah drinked dis medicine ever' twice a day until it went and went until it went down to my feet - down to mah feet. Now, ever' summer dat same thing come out jest like some 'neral [veneral] disease, jes' broken out in yore feet, ever' summer. It goes back in de wintertime, but in de summertime, spring- time, it like that.
(In summer you still have it?)
Yes, sir - got it now.
(It looks like a veneral disease?)
It jes' broke out in a fine bump and then it turn out sore. Then it swell - it start in de knee and den it go right on to de feet - all the ankles and ever'thing swole up - jes' like it swole up now.
Entry 688
It was years before I could stand to have anybody tell it to me. Years ago [1896] there was a woman that had something that began to move in the side of her leg and she went on for days and weeks and finally it went into months. And it seems that the moving became larger. First the doctor said that it was her blood. And then they kept waiting. And then the woman said, "Why does my blood move in this particular place and does not move anywhere else?" So she bathed it, rubbed it. And they did everything they knew. Finally, it got so large that you could see the shape of it just above her ankle. They began to bind certain chemicals to her leg which seemed to weaken the movement of whatever it was. So they poulticed it with things that blistered the skin and bound it very tight above. And all of a sudden one morning when she woke there was a little snake on her bed that had come out of her leg from where the blister was made. Then the doctor came and investigated. But he [M.D.] never liked to admit to the conjuration. While the older people that had been working on it told him that it was something that had been put on her leg by a witch. They say that that Was really true. I could have seen the person. Another occasion [a different storyl, pretty much like that, where the lizard came out of the end of the woman's toe. Either of these things I could have seen in South Carolina, if I had just gone to the next little town.
Entry 892
About fifteen years ago [1922] I was workin' to a place an' didn't seem like de peoples seemed to like de way I was gittin' along. I was gittin' along purty well. [Then he becomes ill.] An' come along a colored fellah and his wife an' he told me, he say, they had buried somepin around the place where I worked at to throw me out mah job an' make me unhealthy. So he ast me - he was out de woods - there's a weed in de woods they call gall of de earth. I told [him] I did not [know it]. He say, "Well, you come an' I'll show it to yah. [It was] a little black place right down in de branch here [near Hartsville, S. Car.] an' he take me down there an' says, "Will you know this when you see it again?" I tole 'im, "Yes, I think so." But I ain't seen none of it around heah [Wilmington, N. Car.]. I've been lookin' close for it thinkin' I'd stay in tetch with it. So he had me to send an' git some vinegar. [Previously] I tole him mah right feet was swell up four times big as mornin [normal] - mah leg up to mah hip. I had to drag it. An' he put on a kittle an' heats some water. He put cookin' salt, vinegar an' chamber lye, some sun-cure [rather than smoke-cured] tobacco in it, and strained it out an' this gall of the earth, an' he boiled it about five minutes. Then he got de foot tub and he put a cover over it like this, an' he stirred it a little bit an' he kep' feelin' in it an' it got so he tole me to put mah feet in it. He took dese leaves of this gall of de earth - they's about dat wide I reckon an' about dis long, look kin'a like somepin dey call dog tongue [= hound's-tongue], [used these leaves] like a cloth, an' he bathed mah leg down [magic rite of down- ward] and feet. An' then he took de other handful of green stuff, gall of de earth leaves. He beat 'em up an' he put de salt an' [corn] meal in it, an' then he taken some of this same stuff he bathe mah feet with an' dampen it good all over an' bind mah leg down dis like I'd wrapped it around a wound. An' de next mornin' I could walk. De swellin', ever' bit of it was gone. An' it ain't never hurt me in that ankle since, but ever' year I have a hurtin' in de hip along between now [February] an' de spring of de year.
(How did he say you were hurt?)
He dug - was some kin'a bottle about half as big as that brown bottle yonder, about a half pint, an' it was a lota diff'rent kin'a roots in it. I don't know what dey was in it. An' he took it an' he shuck it up an' he looked at it an' he put some kin'a seal on it an' done some markin' on de paper [he pasted on the bottle] with a pencil an' he tole me did I know way dey a runnin' stream was. I tole him yes. He ast me how fer it was. I tole about a half of mile. So he said, "Well, you arrange to git dere an' throw it in dere at twelve o'clock mid- night." He say, "When you git dere, you jis' say, "Between the Father, Son and the Holy Ghost, beside me dere is no other [only time I ever heard this unusual addition, ' an' throw it right over your head, be sure you throw it in the water, an' don't look back at it." He say, "Go on back home. An' den after dat he went off an' died an' I never could tell no more about it by me changes places [moving] comin' over here [to Wilmington]. This happened in Hartsville, South Carolina. [Wilmington, N. Car., (312), 240: l; I interviewed his wife (313), next.]
Entry 6983
[Rain water, water from heaven as one informant called it, is the sub- stance of my following transcription note: Sprain, pouring water on it from Becond-story window! I remember the occasion slightly because a younger man being interviewed at the same time laughed. This much I re- member. My informant said years ago he knew the man who did this amnd cured his sprain, despite the absence of a second story to his house. He leaned a ladder against his one-story shack, had his wife with a bucket of water climb the ladder, while he flattened himself beneath. Naturally a considerable ount of water missed the.ankle but not the entire man. This is actually a Sort of rain-making rite! Could it or something similar have come from the Amer- ican Indian? Is it the remnant of a humorous folk tale? Has anyone collected a parallel? Those were two great days of my life I spent of Deal Island in the home of the Whites, who happened to be Blacks - see two pictures of this home and us in ILLUSTRATIONS at end of Hoodoo, volume 2.]
Entry 563
Well, may I tell mah experience about it? Well, once ah was dressing a lady's hair an' I slightly took off mah shoe, de left one. Well, de lady was an ole enemy of my father and I didn't know any definite reason why she should do anything to me. But on June the 4, 1937, I immediately had a swelling around mah ankle. Ah didn't pay it any attention - ah thought it was probably from my shoe, and it continued to grow. Everything got swollen 'bout me 'cept mah arms, and I didn't know de reason why my daddy cared [carried] me to de doctor's - he [father] thought it was a touch of dropsy, but de doctor said it was dropsy an' gave me medicine. The more medicine-medicine [doctor's medicine] that ah took, de worse ah got. Ah only found out whut was de matter wit me by a dream - an' I interpret de dream mahself. I had a dream of mah mother. I dreamt she had a jade green earring - earring and necklace round her neck, and I asked her whut were they for. She say, "Darling, '' [she] says, "Gren signifies poison." An' ah immediately waked up - an' when ah awaken ah went downstairs an' tole mah daddy just whut ah dream an' interpret mah dream to him, an' so he carried me to a root doctor. An' de root doctor tole me dat ah was poisoned an' ah wasn't poisoned from de mouth - ah was poisoned from de shoe." An' he took de shoe an' dressed it fol me an' tole in five days ah would be able to wear mah shoes agin, an' ah was.
(Did he tell you how this shoe was dressed for you?)
He didn't tell me definitely how de shoe was dressed, but he tole me the lady had placed something in it. And he took this shoe an' sprayed it with salt. An' after spraying with salt, he told me tuh wear it. I wore de shoe an' immediately my swelling Went down within five days.
Entry 1363
Well, you take some steel dust - steel dust and Conquer Root Powder, and you mix that together with a little silver. Lift up that back piece in your shoes, don't you know. (That little piece inside there?) Inside the shoe and you puts that - sprinkle that in the shoe and put a dime down in there in your shoe and wear it.
(What will that do then?)
That keep anybody from doing you any harm. Or takes a dime, put a hole in the dime and wears it around the ankles - you know, tied around the legs.
Entry 1416
Now, jest like someone is harmin' you, you kin take a penny and take it and knock a hole troo it and have a frog. Ah don't know if you know what a frog is. And cut dis frog open and place de penny in before you knock de hole in it. Cover de frog back together tight, and after covering de frog back, you let it stay fer about thirty or forty minutes. Den take dis frog out - [I mean] take de penny out of de frog, bore a hole in de penny, take a cord and take dis penny and tie one round yore ankle and tie another one around de other ankle. Jes' like the wimmin keep people from hurting them - they take a dime and bore a hole in that dime and put one dime on one laig and one dime on the other laig, and then that will keep anybody from poisoning them or any kind of thing. Protection to the body. An' dat's de way wit de penny.
Entry 1520
Take a silver dime an' put in a quart of watah an' boil it down to about a teacupful, an' tie de dime down yore laig an' yo' kin walk ovah anything dey is on earth.
(You have to boil that dime first, though?)
[He said this but I am asking for a repetition which often produces other details.] Oh yes! oh yes! Yo' take de dime an' boil it in a quart of water down to about a teacupful [magic of diminishing amount] and put de dime down yore laig.
(Either leg?)
Either laig an' yo' kin walk ovah anything.
Entry 1801
You take nine penny nails and nail dat - like you would make a coffin. Understand. That, if you wanted to kill someone. (Well, how do you mean nail them? I mean fix [arrange] them? What do you dc with them then?) Well, if you wanted to kill someone, destroy someone, you'll take those nine penny nails and you nail 'em in de shape of a coffin.
(Oh, I see. You nail them in the shape of a coffin.)
In your floor, anywhere that you choose to nail 'em, you understand, and if you can, you try to get a piece of their shoe off the right foot on de inside of the ankle up at the top. And you'll take and then nail that down when you make de coffin and de last nail you drive you suppose that'll be through the center, which will be your heart, and you drive that there and they will pine away. I have known that doctors pronounced some had T. B., and everything, but no doctors can cure 'em. They just simply pines away.
Entry 3473
When he go tuh sleep a woman take a string an' measure de length of 'i [his body] from de haid to de foot, an' tie jis' as many knots in it as yo' are tall, see, an' tie it aroun' 'er waist. Den she measure yo' othahwise, straight down, jis' de length dat [penis] is. She tie it in a knot an' tie it roun' 'er ankle an' wear it. One roun' one ankle an' one roun' de othah one - den dat roun' 'er waist. [This ambiguous statement sounds like 3 places the cause of my close questioning that soon follows.] Yo' cain't have no nature fo' no othah woman. (With THE FIRST STRING SHE MEASURES FROM THE HEAD TO THE FOOT? And tie as many knots?) As yo' [he] is high - de height of 'em, see. Yo' kin take dat string an' measure his height by dat string.
(You have to put a knot at each foot?)
No, yo' jis' take de string jis' how many foot yo' is an' put dem little knots in dere. Don't make no diff'rence whereabouts yo' put 'em, jis' yo' tie 'em in dere.
(Where does she wear that string then?)
She wear it roun' 'er waist.
(WHAT DOES SHE DO WITH THE OTHER STRING?)
Take de othah string an' measure othahwise, yo' undahstan' - de privates, yes- suh.
(The second piece of string, and she only ties one knot in that?)
"Cordin' tuh how long he is, jis' de length of it.
(For how long?)
Ah dunno, jis' as many knots - yo' see jis' lak if it's seven inches lak dat, yo' puts seven knots in it.
(Where does she wear that?)
Aroun' 'er ankle, eithah one. Or she have tuh put it roun' both 'er ankles, one on each foot.
(SHE'S GOT THESE TWO STRINGS THEN?)
Yessuh.
(She only uses the string for measurements?)
Yessuh. (You say the man can do the same thing to the woman.)
Entry 3562
Yo' take a string an' measure dis person, an' tie a knot at de end of dat string. Yo' see, tie a knot at de end of dat string. Yo' see, tie a knot at de end of dat string, at de firs measurin' place an' den yo' tie it, an' from dere on yo' tie eight more which makes nine, an' den yo' kin eithah pin it aroun' yore ankle wit a sil- vah dime. Stick a hole in a silvah dime an' wear it aroun' de ankle, dey won't love no one but yo'. Well, NOW SOME PEOPLE SAY DEY USE IT FER CRAMPS [see Nos.1516-1517], BUT DAT'S ALWAYS AS AN ALIBI. DAT'S [LOVE IS] WHUT DE USE IT FO'.
(They say they use it for cramps, but they really want to keep a man.)
Entry 5236
Take yore left - take dis sole out chure left shoe, dat inside [insole] out chure shoe, an' yo' take dat sole an' yo' take solid brown papah. YO' EVAH SEEN A TERRAPIN? Cut it [brown paper] in shape of a terrapin. De shoe, dat's in shape of a terrapin. De shoe, dat's in ordah - now, if yo' wanted tuh Zingah a person, yo' know, fix 'em so dey be lingahin' all de time. An' yo' cut dis piece of brown papah an' cut dat shoe sole [insole] an' yo' ball it up in a new piece of homespun. Take dis piece an' de same shoe dat yo' taken it out of, an' slip it back in dey house. Yo' know, lak peoples shoe is settin' roun' dere an' yo' take de sole out. Well, maybe yo' be smart enough tuh git it back in de house, an' yo' put dis piece of papah in it. Well, de nine days aftah dey git tuh weah dis shoe, dey foot begin tuh swell up an' dere ankle an' yo' cain't tell [the cause of the swelling]. Well, if dey take dat piece of - DAT. SOLE DEY GOT OUT OF YORE SHOE, IF DEY MAKE 'WAY WIT IT COMPLETE AN' FO'GIT ABOUT WHERE DEY PUT IT, WHY YO'LL NEVAH BE CURED. DERE'S NOBODY IN DE WORLD WILL EVAH CURE YO'. (If you want to make this person linger, you take this sole out of his shoe. Now, what do you do with this brown paper?) Yo' take dat papah an' put it back in dere shoe, in de toe of dere shoe. Yo' know it's kind of a tissue papah, li'le thin papah. Dey put it in de toe of dere shoe jes' as fur as yo' kin git it. An' whenevah yo' do dat, dey weah de shoe. Maybe dey weah de shoe out an' don' evah know dat papah is in de shoe. An' when- evah dey do 'way fo' yo', jes' lak anybody come in wit anythin' an' throw it down an' fo'git about where dey put it.
(Do they put the inner sole back in the shoe?)
No suh, keep it. If dey git holt of dat dey kin git cured.
(You take that sole [insole] out.and you put this paper in the shoe?)
Put it in de shoe. Cut it in de shape of a terrapin.
Entry 5268
Well, dey kin git yuh shoes. Dey will git a li'le piece of de innah sole out of 'em, jis' outa eithah one of 'em. An' take dat innah sole an' carry it an' use turpentine on it; may- be ten or fifteen drops, not undah ten an' not ovah fifteen. Take it an' put it in a tobacco can or snuffbox. Git dat an' bury it, jis' keep it buried dere. An' YO'LL BEGIN TUH TAKE PAINS IN YUH ANKLES AN' KNEES, JIS' AS LONG AS DAT'S BURIED, JIS' LAK YO' WUS A MAN WIT DE RHEUMATISM. YO'LL BE DOWN IN YUH ANKLES AN' YUH KNEES, AN' FINELY [FINALLY] IT WORK ON UP IN YUH HIPS. AN' WORK ON THROUGH YUH BODY. IT'LI WORK ALL OVAH YO'. IT'LL GIT YO' IN SICH A CONDITION DAT YO'LL HAVE DE STIFF- NECK AN' EVAHTHIN' ELSE.
Entry 6781
Makes up a salve wit it, wit some dirt daubah nest, saltpetah, chewin' tobacca an' yo' make a salve. Now yo' kin put it in a li'le - ah dunnō [don't know] how much yo' goin' make up, but put chew a li'le vine- gah in it an' it's jis' lak a mustard, yo' know, jis' lak prepared mustard. Make a li'le of dat an' put it on de place an' see whut it will do fo' yo' [recording machine stopped, see later].
(What will that cure for example?)
Well, jis' lak a lotta people - yo' know yo' got a misery in yore ankle, cain't stand up on yore ankle. Dey [person working spell against you] got chew down in yore knees. (You said before [while machine turned off] that it kills off a lot of hoodoo ousiness.) Hoodoo business.
Entry 6922
[Silver - especially the American dime or ten-cent piece - was one of the most widespread and frequently used magic articles in hoodoo. Has the de- basement of metallic currency in the U. S. A. killed off these beliefs, or is there a brisk sale of true silver dimes? Despite that extensive collection of silver beliefs previously given on Pp.484-493, there are many more scattered throughout Hoodoo. The rites that follow may be duplicates, but they are un- printed in Hoodoo.] Dese people in St. Petahsburg, weahs a dime roun' dere ankle tuh keep 'em off - as a preventive.
(To keep off what?)
Any kinda HOODOO or hard luck or stop anythin' dat would happen tuh 'em. Why some of 'em weahs one on each laig!
Entry 6924
Takes a dime an' put a hole through it, an' yo' kin weah it roun' yuh ankle or roun' yuh arm or roun' yuh neck. Dat's in case if a person wants tuh try tuh poison yo'. Dey claims dat dat poison goes in dat silvah in place of in yuh system.
Entry 6926
Make a hole in de dime an' put a string through de hole an' tie it aroun' yuh ankle, an' dey say it yuh hurt any way, dat dime will turn black.
Entry 6927
Take a dime an' weah it roun' yore ankle an' if anybody's done anything tuh yo', DAT DIME WILL TURN GREEN, if anybody's tryin' tuh do anythin' tuh yo'.
Entry 10325
Measure man, wear string in shoe 9 days, then tie around right ankle [a remedy of the great George Jackson of the Eastern Shore, see Pp.912-915, v.1. Some of the material about him collected on Eastern Shore of Maryland, some from relative in Baltimore].
Entry 12563
Under your foot track - just like people come along and say that they could hurt you by your foot track. But they couldn't hurt you by a foot track, but I tell you what they could do. They could take some dirt coming from your shoes: just like if you had a hole in your shoe like that [dirt would get into shoe through hole in shoe]. And your foot track they Would probably pick up [in that way]. And after [hole in shoe] picking it up, they could take that dust, what come from your shoes. And they could shake it, put it in a box with some of these here pigeon eggs, and beat it up like that. Anywhere you bury that, you have to leave town [be- cause pigeon flies!]. And anytime you couldn't stay nowhere, couldn't never come back into the place where you was. (You mean the dirt from your shoe, any of the dirt that sticks to the bottom of your shoes? What about that hole in your shoes?) Just like - you see, where I Was, this feet chere, how it was. How this feet chere of mine was [he evidently demonstrates foot or feet]. Well, then, gettin' a remedy for that? [Here is how it happened.] I walked out one morning and it had some kind of yellowish-looking stuff on the steps. But I didn't paid attention and I walked on out of there, going to my work. Well, it was in the summertime and it was right warm. Well, I had some shoes that cut, you know, like this [demonstrates].
(Had holes in the bottoms of them?)
Yes, sir. Well, then, what made me heed them then was my heel started to hurt. I comes on back. Well, that heel of mine was about that big [demon- strates]. So they carried me and they got some of this sugar, this white granulated sugar, and got some of this Palm of Christiandom.
(Palm of what?)
Palm of Christiandom. (Palm of Christian?) [I am not correcting informant but commenting for the future. Besides, the words are Palma Christi "hand of Christ, " the castor-oil plant.] Palm of Christian, yes. You get that anywhere through the country. And they takes that and they put that on, in hot water, just as hot as I could bear it. Then after that they take some cayenne pepper and put it there and they soak it. Then they take, after that - don't never wipe it off - you just take it and let your feet hangs over the water like that, and drain until it dries. Then you take some of the "Pp" oil.
(PP. Two "P's.")
Yeah, PP oil. Get it in the drug store. You take that PP Oil and you just take it like that, with a piece of cotton, you know, and 'noint it. But always 'noint it going down.
(Why?)
Well, that's to draw out all the swelling and all the pain leaves - whatever. You have to rub it like that. [Informant either did not know or did not under- stand my question. You rub downwards to drive pain or any crunjure out through the feet. Many examples of this occur in HOODOO, see No.981, p.377, vol.1.] Well, the swelling before I ever knowed, well they had all the - I'll just lift it up here. They had all this here and all down here. [Informant demonstrates all this.] And they told me how to use it. Well, I got relief of that.
(What did it do to make your ankle swollen that way?)
Well, I walked in some yellowish-looking powder.
(Oh, I see.)
That's where it came from. And it was somepin that makes your ankle itch, you see; and you scratches it, you know.
Entry 12989
Or yo' kin take an' go to - if yo' believe in the root-working or hoodooing - go to them an' yo' tell them that yo' are out looking for a job. Git a cotton cord string an' take a dime an' put a hole in it an' put this string - run the string through that hole of the dime an' jest hang it around yore left ankle. Let it hang down so it can be in yore shoes, hang down in yore shoes, so anyone can't see it. An' yo' keep that around there an' that will give you luck to have work as long as yo' kin any time.
Entry 13039
A dime on your leg can mean just above your ankle, or below or above your knee. When this dime turns black, it shows you have been cunjured. [Wil- mington 214:2+85.]
Entry 13054
A dime against cunjure should be worn on the left ankle. [Snow Hill 2:1; Wilmington 72:4.]
Entry 13055
A dime on your right ankle turning black means yo' have walked over an object to cunjure you. [Newport News 513:6.]
Entry 13056
To wear a dime on your ankle against cunjuration, the dime must be new and of the current year. This will turn black if you are hurt. [Charles- ton 575:4.]
Entry 13058
Make 3 holes in the dime you wear on ankle or leg against cunjure.
[Wilmington 162:5+85.]
Entry 13059
Four dimes: wear one on each wrist and each ankle to keep from being hurt. [Vicksburg 1008:6.]